Devarim
Book 5: Deuteronomy
SHOFTIM
Chapter 16
Verse 18: Judges and police officers
you shall appoint for yourself
in all of your cities
that Ad-noy, your G-d,
is giving you for your tribes;
who will judge
the people
righteous justice.
Verse 19: Do not pervert justice;
do not display favoritism;
and do not accept bribery,
for bribery
blinds the eyes of the wise
and distorts
words that are just.
Verse 20: Pursue absolute justice
so that you may live
and inherit the land
that Ad-noy, your G-d,
is giving you.
Verse 21: Do not plant an Asherah for yourself
[or] any tree
near the altar of Ad-noy, your G-d,
that you will make for yourself.
Verse 22: And
do not erect for yourself a monument
that Ad-noy, your G-d, detests.
Chapter 17
Verse 1: Do not sacrifice to Ad-noy, your G-d,
an ox or a lamb
that has a blemish, any bad thing;
for it is
abominated
by Ad-noy, your G-d.
Verse 2: If there is found among you,
in one of your cities
that Ad-noy, your G-d,
is giving you,
a man or a woman
who does what is evil
in the eyes of Ad-noy, your G-d,
by violating His covenant.
Verse 3: He goes and serves other gods
and bows to them---
whether to the sun or to the moon
or to any of the host of heaven
that I did not command.
Verse 4: When you are
told
and you understand,
you are to inquire thoroughly.
If in fact the report is authenticated
and accurate---
this abomination was committed
within Yisroel.
Verse 5: You are to take out that man
or that woman
who did this evil thing
to your city---
the man or the woman---
and you are to
stone them with stones
so that they die.
Verse 6: By the speech of two witnesses
or three witnesses
is the guilty one to be executed;
he is not to be executed
by the oral testimonoy of one witness.
Verse 7: Let the hand of the witnesses
be against him
first to execute him,
and the hand of the entire people afterward;
and you will eliminate the evil
from within you.
Verse 8: If a matter of law is too abstruse for you---
between blood and blood,
between decision and decision,
or between leprosy and leprosy
matters under dispute in your city;
you shall rise and ascend
to the place
that Ad-noy, your G-d, will have chosen.
Verse 9: You are to come before
the kohanim-the Levites
and the judge officiating during those days;
you will inquire and they will tell you
the legal decision.
Verse 10: You are to act according to the word
that they tell you from that place
that Ad-noy will have chosen;
and you are to be careful to fulfill exactly
as they instruct you.
Verse 11: In accord with the Torah
that they instruct you
and upon the law that they state to you,
are you to act;
do not deviate from the word they tell you,
neither right or left.
Verse 12: But the man
who acts deliberately
to not heed the kohein
who stands to serve there Ad-noy, your G-d,
or the judge;
that man is to be executed
and you will eliminate the evil
from Yisroel.
Verse 13: Let all the people
hear and fear,
and not sin deliberately again.
Sheini (Second Aliyah)
Verse 14: When you arrive in the land
that Ad-noy, your G-d, is giving you
and inherit it and live in it,
and you say,
"Let me
appoint over me a king
like all the nations around me;"
Verse 15: Appoint are you to appoint
over yourself a king
whom Ad-noy, your G-d, will choose.
From among your brothers
are you to appoint over yourself a king;
you may not
place over yourself a foreigner
who is not your brother.
Verse 16: However, he must not aquire an abundance
of horses for himself
so that he will not return
the people to Egypt
in order to aquire an abundance of horses,
because Ad-noy told you,
"You are not to proceed to return
along this route again."
Verse 17: And he is
not to aquire an abundance
of wives for himself
so that his heart will not veer;
and silver and gold
he may not accumulate for himself
in great abundance.
Verse 18: It shall be, that when he occupies
the throne of his kingdom,
he must write for himself a duplicate
of this Torah in a scroll form
[the scroll]
before the kohanim---
the Levites.
Verse 19: It is to accompany him
and he is to read in it
all the days of his life,
in order that he learn
to fear Ad-noy, his G-d,
to guard every word of this Torah
and these statutes to fulfill them;
Verse 20: That his pride not increase over his brothers
and he does not stray
from the commandment right or left;
so that the days of his reign are lengthy
over his
kingdom,
he and his sons within Yisroel.
Sh'lishi (Third Aliyah)
Chapter 18
Verse 1: They will not have---
the kohanim, the Levites,
the entire tribe of Levi---
a portion or an
inheritance with Yisroel;
Ad-noy's fire-offerings and His inheritance
will they eat.
Verse 2: But he will have no territory
among his brothers;
Ad-noy is his territory,
as He said to him.
Verse 3: And this will be
the stipend of the kohanim
from the people
from the slaughterers of [permitted] meat,
whether an ox or a sheep;
he will give the kohein the foreleg
and the jaw
and the [fourth]
stomach.
Verse 4: The first portion of your grain, your wine,
and your olive oil,
and the first of the shearing of your sheep
are you to give
him.
Verse 5: For him
did Ad-noy, your G-d,
choose from all your tribes
to stand and perform the service
in the name of Ad-noy,
he and his sons for all time.
Revi'i (Fourth Aliyah)
Verse 6: If a Levite should come
from one of your
cities throughout Yisroel
where he sojourns,
coming will all his soul's desire
to the place that Ad-noy chooses.
Verse 7: He shall perform the service
in the name of Ad-noy, his G-d,
like all his brother Levites
who stand there in Ad-noy's presence.
Verse 8: They shall eat
equal portions,
except for what the families sold [to one another.]
Verse 9: Because you are entering the land
that Ad-noy, your G-d, is giving you;
do not learn to perpetrate
the abominations of those nations.
Verse 10: Let there not exist among you
anyone who
passes his son or daughter through fire,
who practices the kosem-occult;
who practices time-frame-occult or
who divines portentuous events
or a sorcerer.
Verse 11: Or a snake charmer,
or one who
invokes the spirit of Ov
or yidoni,
or communicates with the dead.
Verse 12: For Ad-noy's abomination
is anyone perpetrating this
and because of these abominations,
Ad-noy, your G-d,
is expelling them from before you.
Verse 13: Walk in perfect trust
with Ad-noy, your G-d.
Chamishi (Fifth Aliyah)
Verse 14: Although
these nations
whom you are inheriting
heed augurers and sorcerers,
but as to you---
Ad-noy, your G-d, has not given you their status.
Verse 15: A prophet from your midst,
of your brethren, like me,
will Ad-noy,
your G-d, establish for you;
heed him.
Verse 16: Exactly as you requested
from Ad-noy, your G-d, at Choreiv,
on the day of assembly, saying,
"Let me not continue
to hear the voice of Ad-noy, my G-d,
and this great fire
let me not see any more
as that I will not die."
Verse 17: Ad-noy said to me,
"What they said is excellent.
Verse 18: A prophet will I establish for them
from among their brethren like you,
and I will place My words in his mouth
and he will tell them everything
that I command him.
Verse 19: Now,
the man who does not heed My words
that he speaks in My Name;
I will demand from him.
Verse 20: But the prophet who will malevolently
make a statement in My Name,
something that I did not instruct him to say,
or which he says in the name of foreign gods,
that prophet
must die.
Verse 21: If you should say to yourself,
"How can we know [which is] the statement
that Ad-noy did not speak?"
Verse 22: Should the prophet
speak in Ad-noy's Name,
and the matter does not happen
and is not fulfilled,
that is the statement
that Ad-noy did not speak.
The
prophet spoke it malevolently;
do not fear him.
Chapter 19
Verse 1: When Ad-noy, your G-d, annihilates
the nations
whose land Ad-noy, your G-d
is giving you;
and you inherit them
and live in their cities
and in their houses;
Verse 2: Separate three cities for yourself,
within your land
that Ad-noy, your G-d,
is giving you to inherit.
Verse 3: Ready the route for yourself
and divide the borders of your land into three sections
that Ad-noy, your G-d, will allot you;
this will serve
for any murderer to flee there.
Verse 4: And this is the matter of the murderer
who may flee there to survive:
whoever smites his peer without intent,
and he had not been his enemy yesterday
[or] the day before;
Verse 5: And whoever comes with his peer
into the woods to chop trees,
and as his hand swung the axe downward
to cut the wood
the iron flew off the wooden handle
and encounters his peer and he dies;
he is to flee to one of these cities
to survive.
Verse 6: Lest the
blood-redeemer pursue
the murderer
when his heart grows heated,
and he catches up with him
over the length of the road
and he smite him dead
when he has no death sentence
because he had not been his enemy yesterday
[or] the day before.
Verse 7: Therefore am I commanding you the following:
three cities shall you separate for yourself.
Verse 8: And when Ad-noy, your G-d, expands
your boundary,
in accordance with His oath to your forefathers,
and He give you the entire land
that He promised to give
to your forefathers,
Verse 9: When you will be guarding
this entire mitzvah to fulfill it,
that I am commanding you today,
to love Ad-noy, your G-d,
and to go in His
ways for all time;
then you shall add three more cities
to these three.
Verse 10: And let innocent blood not be shed
within your land
that Ad-noy, your G-d,
is giving you as territory,
[otherwise] you will bear liability
for the blood.
Verse 11: If there is a man who hates his neighbor,
and will ambush him,
arising against him
and smiting him dead,
and he will flee
to one of these cities;
Verse 12: The elders
of his city will send for
and take him from there,
and will hand him over to the blood-redeemer,
and he will be executed.
Verse 13: Do not view him with compassion.
You are to eliminate
the [shedding of] innocent blood from Yisroel,
and you will have it good.
Shishi (Sixth Aliyah)
Verse 14: Do not move back the boundary of your neighbor
that the first
[settlers] determine
in your territory that you will inherit
in the land that Ad-noy, your G-d,
is giving you to inherit.
Verse 15: One witness may not arise against a man
about any sin
or for any transgression
or transgression that he transgresses;
by the word of two witnesses
or by the word
of three witnesses
let a matter be established.
Verse 16: If false witnesses arise against a man
and bear fallacious testimony against him;
Verse 17: The two men shall stand,
who are
involved in the dispute,
before Ad-noy,
before the kohanim and the judges
who are in those days.
Verse 18: When the judges shall investigate thoroughly
and behold, the witness
testified falsely,
they testified
falsely
against their brother;
Verse 19: You are to do to [each of] them
as he conspired to do to his brother,
and
eliminate the evil
from among you;
Verse 20: And the remainder will hear and be fearful,
and they will not repeat
this evil thing among you.
Verse 21: You are not to have compassion:
life for life,
eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot.
Chapter 20
Verse 1: When you go to war
against your enemy,
and you see horse and chariot,
people who outnumber you;
do not be afraid of them,
for Ad-noy, your G-d, is with you,
He Who brought you up
from the land of Egypt.
Verse 2: Now, as you near the battle
the kohein
shall approach
and speak to the people.
Verse 3: He will say to them,
"Hear, Yisroel!
You are setting out today to battle
against your enemies.
Do not be faint hearted;
or intimidated
and do not panic,
and do not be crushed before them;
Verse 4: Because Ad-noy,
your G-d,
marches with you
to do battle for you
with your enemies to save you."
Verse 5: The officers will address
the people as follows,
"Whichever man has built a new house
and did not inaugurate it as a dwelling,
let him go and return home
lest he die in battle
and another man will inaugurate it.
Verse 6: And whichever man has planted a vineyard
and did not redeem it[s fruit,]
let him go and
return home,
lest he die in battle
and another man redeem it.
Verse 7: And whichever man has betrothed a woman
and not married her,
let him go and return home,
lest he die in battle
and another man marry her."
Verse 8: The officers will further address
the people and say.
"Whoever is afraid or faint hearted,
let him go and
return home,
and let him not destroy
the resolve of his brothers
like his own resolve."
Verse 9: When the officers finish
addressing the people;
they will appoint army commanders
at the head of the people.
Shevi'i (Seventh Aliyah)
Verse 10: When you near
a city
to do battle against it,
you are to offer it peace.
Verse 11: Should it respond, "Peace!"
and open for you,
then all the people found in it
will become your payers of tribute,
and your servants.
Verse 12: And if it does not settle for peace with you
but engages in war against you,
you shall lay
siege to it.
Verse 13: Ad-noy, your G-d, will deliver it
into your hand,
and you will smite all its males
by the sword.
Verse 14: However, the women and the children,
and the animals,
and everything that will be in the city---
all its booty---are you to plunder for yourself;
you will eat
the booty of your enemies
that Ad-noy, your G-d, gave you.
Verse 15: So will you do to all the cities,
that are very distant from you,
that are not among
the cities of these nations.
Verse 16: However, from the cities of these peoples
that Ad-noy, your G-d,
is giving you as
inheritance,
you are not to leave any person alive.
Verse 17: Rather annihilate are you
to annihilate them:
the Chittites and the Emorites,
the Canaanites and the Perizites,
the Chivites and the Yevusites;
as Ad-noy, your G-d, commanded you.
Verse 18: In order that they do not teach you
to do any of their abominations
that they did for their gods,
and you will sin
to Ad-noy, your G-d.
Verse 19: If you besiege a city
many days to wage war against it,
to capture it,
do not harm [any of] its trees
by chopping it with an ax,
because you eat from it
you are not to cut it down;
For, is the tree in the field a man
to join the besieged to escape you?
Verse 20: Only a tree that you know
that it is not a fruit tree
may you harm or cut down;
and you will build battlements
against the city that is waging war against you
until it is conquered.
Chapter 21
Verse 1: If
a corpse is found in the land
that Ad-noy, your G-d,
is giving you to inherit,
fallen in the field,
it is not known who smote him.
Verse 2: Your elders shall go out---
and your judges---
and measure in the direction of the cities
around the corpse.
Verse 3: Now, the city
nearest the corpse---
the elders of that city are to take
a calf-heifer
that has not been worked,
that has not drawn a yoke.
Verse 4: The elders of that city will take down
the calf to a stony valley
that is not to be tilled
and not to be seeded,
and they shall
decapitate the calf
in that valley.
Verse 5: The kohanim, descendants of Levi, will approach;
because them did Ad-noy, your G-d, choose
to serve Him
and to bless in Ad-noy's Name;
and they will decide every dispute
and every nega.
Verse 6: And all the elders of that city,
those near the corpse,
will wash their hands
over the calf beheaded in that valley.
Maftir
Verse 7: They will loudly declare,
"Our hands have not spilled this blood
and our eyes did not see."
Verse 8: [The kohanim
will say,]
"Forgive Your people Yisroel,
whom You, Ad-noy, have redeemed;
and do not allow innocent blood [liability]
within Your people Yisroel."
The blood shall thus be atoned for in their behalf.
Verse 9: Still, you must eradicate
the [liability for] innocent blood
from within you,
when you do what is upright
in Ad-noy's eyes.
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